KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Trading 8.2% Higher – What’s Next?

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC)’s stock price traded up 8.2% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $255.87 and last traded at $258.3230. 2,253,092 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 10,868,529 shares. The stock had previously closed at $238.73.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen upped their price target on KLA from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $2,250.00 price objective (up from $1,700.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $2,500.00 price objective on KLA and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on KLA from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Citic Securities upped their price objective on KLA from $135.00 to $197.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $342.44.

KLA Trading Up 8.2%

The company has a market cap of $337.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.22, a PEG ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a current ratio of 3.03, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $191.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $158.44.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $8.48. KLA had a return on equity of 91.89% and a net margin of 35.66%.The business had revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. Analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is 26.06%.

KLA announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, March 12th that allows the company to repurchase $7.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to buy up to 3.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 45,120 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.34, for a total value of $9,986,725.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 713,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $157,996,990.71. This represents a 5.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in KLA by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 180,279 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $265,444,000 after buying an additional 1,291 shares during the period. Close Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in KLA during the 3rd quarter worth $133,209,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its position in KLA by 151.2% during the 1st quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 116,292 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $171,230,000 after buying an additional 70,000 shares during the period. Achmea Investment Management B.V. increased its position in KLA by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 104,507 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $112,721,000 after buying an additional 6,109 shares during the period. Finally, Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC increased its position in KLA by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 96,846 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $117,676,000 after buying an additional 374 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

About KLA

KLA is a provider of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related microelectronics industries. The company designs and manufactures equipment, software and services used by chipmakers to analyze and control manufacturing processes, detect defects, measure critical dimensions and improve yield across wafer fabrication, photomask and packaging operations. KLA’s offerings are aimed at enabling production of advanced logic, memory, and specialty devices at progressively smaller technology nodes and more complex package structures.

Its product portfolio includes optical and e-beam inspection systems, metrology tools for critical dimension and film measurement, mask and reticle inspection platforms, as well as enterprise software and data analytics that aggregate process data and drive automated process control.